The sick mind of the teenager who stalked and stabbed a sunbathing woman in a horror movie-like attack has been exposed as he is jailed for attempted murder.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was obsessed with beheading videos and hardcore porn and “hunted” potential victims, sometimes waiting in women’s toilets.
Then, on September 13, 2021, he walked past hairdresser Kaitlin Jones who was lying topless in the midday sun at Blacks Beach in Queensland and stabbed her repeatedly in the head, neck and body.
The court heard it was an attack he had long dreamed of carrying out.
On Wednesday, he was sentenced to seven years in prison, but with his sentence already served, he could be released in less than two years.
Miraculously. The boy’s knife struck her chest and Ms Jones survived, although she was rushed to Mackay Base Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Kaitlin Jones stabbed multiple times while sunbathing by 16-year-old boy
The boy, who was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday, told police he had driven around Mackay to find an isolated area to avoid interruption or detection. He stabbed Ms Jones on Blacks Beach (pictured)
Crown prosecutor Tiffany Lawrence told Rockhampton Crown Court the boy admitted to police he was sexually attracted to Ms Jones and became aroused when he thought about killing someone .
He used illegal drugs and watched videos online showing people killed and a woman decapitated. Courier mail reported.
Ms Lawrence described the case as “deeply disturbing”, adding that he had planned to kill and admitted to being a fan of notorious American serial killer Ted Bundy, admiring him as an “intelligent” man.
She said the boy admitted chasing potential victims around popular Gooseponds hiking trails in North Mackay and even waited in a public toilet block for a random victim to enter.
At one point, he followed a woman with the intention of stabbing her.
He admitted driving around Mackay to find an isolated area to avoid being interrupted or detected.
After the horror attack he was seen on CCTV running and later went to the police.
Two years later, Ms. Jones has physically covered herself and is preparing to marry her fiancé, Dylan Gorham. Pictured: The happy couple poses ahead of their upcoming wedding
Ms Jones crawled to the top of a sand dune where she stood and screamed for help as her blood flowed onto the sand.
Construction worker Gavin Odgaard heard her screams and rushed to her aid.
“She was screaming ‘Help! Help ! I need help!’ and the urgency in his voice pushed me to act,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“She had blood running down the side of her face, down her legs, down her arms, and she had a blood-soaked towel pressed to her chest.
“The first thing she said was, ‘I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been stabbed, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…’
“The seriousness of the situation only became apparent when I was within 8 to 10 meters and could see all of his injuries.
“It was just a random selection of victims. They do this sort of thing for horror movies – but apparently it happens in real life too.
“She was sunbathing topless, on her back, on the sand, so I don’t know if that provoked her in some way, but it’s just weird.”
The father-of-two is a trained first aider and treated his face, head, neck, chest and leg injuries to stem the flow of blood while they waited for emergency services to arrive.
He said Ms Jones was covered in several stab wounds, each about 2cm to 2.5cm wide, but surprisingly the knife had bounced off her chest bones, saving her life.
A few millimeters deeper or to the side, the savage stabbing could have been fatal, he said.
Ms Jones later told police the defendant was “in the middle of stabbing her” when he turned and walked away.
Just a day after the horror film-style stabbing, Ms Jones (pictured) was praised by a friend as incredibly strong. Recently she opened her own hair salon in Queensland
Crown prosecutor Tiffany Lawrence said the boy admitted chasing potential victims around the popular Gooseponds hiking trails (pictured) in North Mackay and even waited in a public toilet for a random victim.
The boy later said he expected the stab to kill her.
A day after the stabbing, an anonymous friend of Ms Jones told Daily Mail Australia that she had probably survived thanks to her incredible personal strength.
“Still very shaken, but she’s a strong girl – I still can’t believe it, really,” he said.
Two years later, Ms. Jones has physically covered herself and is preparing to marry her fiancé, Dylan Gorham.
“It won’t be long before I claim this beautiful lady as my wife,” Mr. Gorham, a coal miner in Moranbah, said in early October.
In May, Ms Jones opened her own hair salon and wrote to her new clientele: “Thank you already for your love and support, I look forward to seeing you all.”
In July, the boy pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder.
The court heard he had been sexually abused by his stepmother, had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and had borderline intellectual functioning.
On Wednesday, Judge Crow sentenced him to seven years in prison, with a 50 percent reduction.
He has already spent 764 days in pre-trial detention.
